MasukJi Lian Chen was a patient man.Painfully patient.The kind of man who could sit through tense business meetings without raising his voice, negotiate with dangerous people while remaining perfectly calm, and survive family tragedies without completely falling apart in front of others.Unfortunately for him, however, none of those experiences properly prepared him for dating Lora Vergara on a daily basis.Especially not when she became dramatic in Tagalog.Which was always.That morning, Ji Lian woke up peacefully for exactly four minutes before hearing a loud groan echo through the apartment followed by aggressive Filipino cursing that sounded emotionally personal toward the entire universe.“PUTANGINA MO TALAGA!”Ji Lian slowly opened his eyes while staring blankly at the ceiling for several seconds.Not because he was shocked anymore. That phase of the relationship ended months ago.At this point, he mostly just wanted to know what caused the daily emotional crisis this time.Anothe
I used to think relationships were supposed to feel dramatic all the time.You know grand confessions in the rain, toxic tension, screaming matches followed by passionate reconciliations, the kind of romance that feels like a car crash but somehow gets romanticized in movies because everyone is apparently mentally unstable there.Then I met Ji Lian Chen ang pogi kong asawa akkkk kinikilig parin ako tangina.And somehow, against all odds, I fell in love with the human version of deep breathing exercises.Which was honestly insulting.Because how dare someone stay calm while dating me?“Why are you staring at me like that?” Ji Lian asked without even looking up from the steering wheel while driving, his voice carrying that usual calmness that always made me want to either kiss him or annoy him aggressively.“I’m thinking.”“That’s dangerous.”I gasped dramatically from the passenger seat.“Wow,” I said while placing a hand over my chest, “so this is emotional abuse now?”Ji Lian sighed
The hospital room remained chaotic long after Dera woke up, because once the initial shock and relief settled slightly, everyone suddenly seemed to remember all at once how terrified they had been for the past several days, and instead of becoming calm normal human beings about it, they all processed their emotions in the loudest and most emotionally unstable ways possible.Dion refused to stop clinging to Dera’s arm.Deya cried every five minutes even while smiling.Alexion kept pretending he was composed while secretly wiping his eyes whenever nobody looked directly at him.Lora somehow managed to cry and complain simultaneously.And Alex?Alex looked like a man who had survived the apocalypse only to realize afterward that he still had no idea how to breathe properly again.He remained close to Dera constantly, almost unconsciously hovering beside her bed like his entire nervous system still refused to believe she would stay alive unless he physically stayed near her, and every sin
For one terrifying second after Dera opened her eyes, nobody moved.Not Alex.Not the nurses rushing into the room.Not even Lora, who had spent the last several days talking nonstop like silence itself offended her personally.Because after so many sleepless nights, after too many moments of hope ending in disappointment, everyone had become afraid of believing too quickly, afraid that this would disappear the moment they reached for it.Alex stared at Dera like a man witnessing a miracle he no longer thought he deserved to see.Her eyes were still weak and unfocused from the coma, her breathing uneven, her body exhausted beyond imagination, but she was awake.Alive.Looking back at him.“...Alex?”Her voice came out barely above a whisper, rough and fragile from days of silence, but the moment Alex heard it, something inside him completely broke apart.“Baby…”The word escaped him like a prayer.His trembling hands immediately cupped her face carefully as tears filled his eyes so fa
At first, there was only darkness. Not the frightening kind. Not cold. Not painful. Just endless silence, soft and distant, like floating underwater while hearing the world from far away, and no matter how hard I tried to move, my body refused to respond, as if something invisible kept pulling me deeper into a place between sleeping and waking. I could hear voices sometimes. Familiar voices. Lora’s loud complaining. Alex’s trembling whispers. The soft cries of my children. But they all sounded so far away, like echoes drifting through heavy fog that I could never fully reach. And then suddenly a warmth feeling a familiar warmth. The kind that made my chest ache before I even opened my eyes. When I finally looked up, I found myself standing beneath a sky painted in soft gold and pale orange, the wind moving gently around me while flower petals drifted slowly through the air, and for a few seconds, I simply stood there confused because everything felt too peaceful compared to t
The hospital had become a strange second home for everyone connected to Dera, a place filled with endless waiting rooms, sleepless nights, cold coffee, silent prayers, and the constant fear that one wrong sentence from a doctor could destroy what little hope they were desperately holding onto, and while the younger ones tried to survive the situation through sarcasm, arguments, or distraction, the mothers carried their pain differently quietly, heavily, and alone.Dera’s mother looked older now.Not because of time.But because grief had a way of aging people faster than years ever could.That afternoon, she sat alone inside the small hospital chapel with trembling hands clasped tightly together, staring blankly at the dim light in front of her while tears silently rolled down her cheeks one after another, because no matter how much she tried to stay strong for her daughter, for the children, for everyone around her she was still just a mother watching her child suffer again and again
Hindi ko inaasahan na babalik agad si Alexander sa Pilipinas, lalo na’t malinaw na sinabi niya na may importante siyang business meeting sa Russia na hindi puwedeng ipagpaliban, pero mukhang may mga bagay talaga na kahit gaano kaimportante ay kayang talikuran kapag may mas mahalaga at sa pagkakatao
“Uy, may nawawala,” biglang sabi ni Lora habang nakatitig pa rin sa kisame.“Ano na naman?” tanong ko, hinihila ang kumot papunta sa baba ko kahit hindi naman malamig, defensive habit lang kapag inaasahan ko nang may sasabihin siyang kalokohan.“Yung part na tinatawag kang baby habang galit, ang ho
Gabi na nang makauwi ako sa condo, pagod ang katawan, pero mas pagod ang utak ko dahil sa buong araw na pagiging clingy at possessive ng boss kong akala mo may personal security issue sa bawat lalaking dumadaan sa paligid ko, akala mo naman may kami?.Pagpasok ko pa lang sa unit, sinalubong na ako
Katatapos ko lang mag-print ng kung anu-anong documents na feeling ko ay kayang gawin ng printer kahit wala ako, pero dahil secretary ako ng CEO, kailangan kong magmukhang very busy kahit ang totoo, half of my brain ay nag-iisip kung bakit parang allergic si Alexander sa sweet coffee.Bitbit ko ang







